A growing body of research indicates that many people who react to gluten are suffering a condition called non-celiac gluten sensitivity, or NCGS.
Supermarket shelves are packed with foods labeled gluten-free (including some that naturally lack gluten). Many high-end restaurants and even pizza parlors now offer gluten-free dishes, as well, in response to consumer demand.
But, until recently, many doctors said only individuals with celiac disease, a rare condition, would benefit from going gluten free. But more studies are suggesting that is not entirely true and that gluten-sensitivity is real for many folks who don’t have celiac disease,
The New York Times reports.
Those who react to gluten, a protein in wheat and other grains, report abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhea, headache, gas, fatigue, joint pain foggy mind, and other problems after eating a gluten-rich food.
Recent studies have strongly suggested that many, and possibly most, people who react badly to gluten may have a sensitivity to a long list of foods with carbohydrates.
In 2011, for instance, Peter Gibson, M.D., a gastroenterologist at Monash University in Victoria, Australia, and his colleagues studied 34 people with IBS who did not have celiac disease but reacted badly to wheat, a gluten-rich grain.
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